The First AI-Powered Alarm Clock You Won’t Hate In The Mornings

By Mara Anton

Posted on November 11, 2016

Imagine an alarm clock without a snooze button. Horrible thought, right? Especially since as vital as an alarm clock is, it’s your worst enemy in the mornings. The only thing that sweetens the screeching sound of the alarm is the possibility of postponing your morning with a “snooze”. But what if the dreaded alarm clock would keep your calendar in check, play music, inspire you to work out and even wake you up only when you truly need it? Would it become a delight rather than a pest? French design house Holi asked itself the same question and worked a year on developing “Bonjour” #objectmagic

The French salute was turned into a physical alarm clock with artificial intelligence to go. Bonjour has an animated UI, built-in speaker and voice recognition so it can hear your commands after saying “OK Bonjour”. The smart clock can check weather, deliver news and weather reports or call an Uber on demand. The same things you get from Siri, so far.

Bonjour can also make recommendations based on calendar meetings, fitness activity, traffic reports. According to the manufacturers, it will wake you up earlier if the traffic is horrible so you can arrive at your meeting in time, inspire you to exercise more if you’ve skipped a gym session and adjust the thermostat so you’ll wake up in the best environment possible. From this point on, expect Google Assistant/Alexa similar services.

By acting as a smart hub for your home appliances, it can control Nest, WeMo and Philips Hue. Plus, it’s compatible with Amazon Alexa and Spotify. If you have security cameras, it will even pair with them to show the footage on its screen.

If you think about it, it seems like a pretty great device. On its Kickstarter page, the crowdfunding goal is clearly achieved. It remains to be seen if the $109 (starting price) smart alarm clock can make good on its promise and ship next summer to all who helped fund it.

The First AI-Powered Alarm Clock You Won’t Hate In The Mornings